AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Environmental causes of variation Characteristics of animal and plant species can be affected by factors such as climate, diet, accidents, culture and lifestyle.

Detailed explanation-2: -Genetic variation can be caused by mutation (which can create entirely new alleles in a population), random mating, random fertilization, and recombination between homologous chromosomes during meiosis (which reshuffles alleles within an organism’s offspring).

Detailed explanation-3: -Major causes of variation include mutations, gene flow, and sexual reproduction. DNA mutation causes genetic variation by altering the genes of individuals in a population. Gene flow leads to genetic variation as new individuals with different gene combinations migrate into a population.

Detailed explanation-4: -Environmental Variation For example, environmental variations in humans could be: Hair length-what length you choose to have your hair. Scars-caused by accidents personal to you. Muscle strength-dependent on how much exercise you do.